in 1991 the Persian Gulf was the site of a new kind of war with the latest Warf fighting technology at their disposal a us-led coalition dismantled the world's fourth largest army within a matter of days a feat that recent Wars or anything to go by is harder than it looks so how did they do it well before we find out we need to thank this video's sponsor World of Warships World of Warships is an online multiplayer Naval Warfare game and it's free to play there are more than 600 historical ships to choose including battleships aircraft carriers and submarines from 11 different nations work with your team to win high stake sea battles rendered in stunning detail if you register through the link in the description using the code warships you'll even get an exclusive starter pack worth €25 now on with the video in late 1990 the world was changing the Berlin Wall had fallen and all eyes were on a possible collapse of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact but 2000 miles away a very different conflict was brewing in the Middle East between Kuwait and its much larger neighbor Saddam Hussein's Iraq confrontation between Iraq and Kuwait intensified Iraq was dependent on oil production and in huge debt to Kuwait following an 8-year war with Iran Saddam claimed that oil prices were being kept superficially low harming Iraq's economy and that Kuwait had stolen oil from an oil field near their border the exact reasons for San's Invasion are still debated to this day but it's worth remembering in the 1990s the Cold War period was coming to an end with the Soviet Union decline Saddam was worried that America would emerge as the dominant power in the region on the 2nd of August 1990 Iraqi forces began their invasion of Kuwait within 2 days they had overrun the country some cues resisted Ed the occupation while hundreds of thousands of refugees fled to neighboring states the attack came as a complete shock to the International Community but was quickly condemned with the United Nations security Council passing a series of resolutions demanding an Iraqi withdrawal and enacting economic sanctions with thousands of Iraqi troops now facing their border Saudi Arabia requested military assistance from around the world they had good reasons to be fearful the Iraqi Army was thought to be the fourth largest in the world and was supported by a comprehensive air defense network even more concerning were Iraq's chemical and biological weapons which were first used in the final years of the Iran Iraq war they could also be deployed by scud missile which had a range of over 600 km and was arguably the most dangerous piece of saddam's Arsenal in November of 1990 the UN passed another resolution number 678 this gave Saddam until Janu anuary 15th to withdraw his troops if he failed a multinational Coalition was authorized to use all means necessary to liberate Q8 over the following months that force from over 35 different nations began to take shape in Operation Desert Shield they would be led by an American General Norman schwarzkoff General Norman schwarzkoff was a giant of a man but he faced a mammoth task not only did thousands of service Personnel armored vehicles tanks and aircraft need moving into the theater of Operation Desert Shield also required the movement of equipment ammunition food and other supplies to sustain this large scale operation this was a huge logistical challenge for schwarzkoff and all of the men and women involved by January 15th Coalition forces in the Gulf numbered almost a million Personnel that night the deadline passed without an Iraqi withdrawal Operation Desert Storm was was about to begin the coalition's first objective was to win control of the Skies Iraq had a strong air defense network with over 500 Sam sites and tens of thousands of anti-aircraft guns they were accompanied by early warning Radars ready to scramble the 500 or so Jets of the Iraqi Air Force for the Coalition it was imperative that they knocked them out and fast at 2:38 a.m. on the 17th of January the air campaign began the scale of the assault on that first night was incredible first Coalition Attack Helicopters destroyed Iraqi Radars cutting a 20m gap through which strike aircraft could flow F4 wild weasel units hit Iraqi air defenses alongside A6 Intruders and f-18s while f-111s f-15s and A10 warthogs struck military targets and radar sits throughout Iraq at the the same time f-17 Nighthawks orbited Baghdad undetected destroying command and control installations with assistance from tomahawk missiles launched by us ships in the Gulf further away B-52s fired cruise missiles at Power stations while u2s awax and refueling tankers circled the area overhead hundreds of aircraft took to the skies on the first night including British RAF tornado g1s such as this one behind me tornado Pilots face the difficult task of grounding the Iraqi Air Force as quickly as possible they would do this using JP 233 submunition dispensers which both created enemy runways and dropped anti-personnel mines to hinder repairs this was one of the most difficult and dangerous jobs of the campaign as Pilots were required to fly at low levels across the full length of Iraqi airfields to drop their payloads in the first 5 days of the campaign five tornadoes were brought down by the Iraqis and 10 crewmen were either killed or captured this aircraft was named foxy killer it flew the highest number of RAF tornado bombing missions during the war however it would have looked rather different in its desert pink color scheme which is how the aircraft would have been painted at the time thanks to the Coalition air campaign Iraqi airfields were left incapacitated or deserted the ARF tornadoes had helped the coalition to win air superiority very quickly the Iraqi Air Force barely came out to fight and over the following 42 days base Coalition aircraft would fly over 100,000 sorties in one of the largest aerial bombardments in history oh yeah in response Iraqi forces began setting fire to oil wells hoping to disrupt the Coalition bombing campaign and Destroy qat oil production the more than 600 oil fires would cause an environmental disaster Saddam also began launching scud missile attacks on Israel and Saudi Arabia he hoped to bring the Israelis into the conflict and split the Coalition but though the missiles did cause widespread damage Israel stayed out thanks to heavy us lobbying meanwhile Coalition Special Forces entered Iraq to hunt for scud missile launchers their success is still a matter of debate in late January Iraqi forces attacked into Saudi Arabia and occupied the small city of CFI 2 days later they were expelled by Coalition forces leveraging their huge air support meanwhile at Sea the Iraqi Navy attempted to escape to Iran but was largely destroyed as a fighting force in what became known as the buban turkey shoot the Coalition was beginning to take full control this F-111 arvar flew 19 combat missions with the 77 tactical Fighter Squadron of the United States Air Force as the Coalition took control of the Skies the f-111s were redirected to hit saddam's ground forces and over 1,500 Iraqi Vehicles were destroyed by f-111s further eliminating Iraqi offensive military capability these aircraft were crewed by a pilot and a weapon system officer or a wizo who operated the weapons and radar in the aircraft James Russell O'Brien or Rusty was one of these weapon system officers he supervised and coordinated f-111f combat operations which play a crucial role to supporting Air Supremacy for the coalition all eyes were now on a coalition ground Invasion with gday to fall on the 24th of February 1991 Iraqi forces in the theater had been seriously degraded by the Coalition air campaign numbered around 300,000 men they favored a Soviet style defense in depth a line of weakened infantry divisions held a series of minefields trenches and bunkers along the border behind them another line of armor and mechanized infantry divisions were ready to Counterattack any breakthrough amongst them were Elite Republican guard divisions the best equipped and trained of the Iraqi forces alongside the liberation of Kuwait their destruction was the key Allied objective and to do that Schwarz goov planned a grand flanking maneuver on gday Arab forces on the coast and US Marines further Inland would attack across the main Minefield defenses towards Kuwait City meanwhile 18th Airborne core on the far left would attack deep into Iraq to secure the flank and block any Iraqi Retreat G plus1 would see the main attack from the armored fist of seventh core while Arab forces secured their right flank on G+ 2 Seventh core was to turn right and destroy the Republican guard while Arab forces led by cuati units would complete the liberation of their capital when the attack began on the 24th of February Coalition forces could not believe their luck Iraqi morale crumbled under the weight of Coalition Firepower the success of the air campaign in destroying key areas of national infrastructure meant that supplies wouldn't arrive for Iraqi forces and their Communications were cut Iraqi forces sustained huge casualties and this impacted on morale Iraqi troops either surrendered or fled using any vehicle they could find on the right Coalition forces moved through the Iraqi minefields with ease while on the left the only delays came from rains and sandstorms in fact the attack moved so quickly that schwarzkoff was forced to bring the main attack forward to that day when it came seventh Corp faced somewhat tougher resistance but utilizing overwhelming artillery and mlrs fire support they plowed through the Iraqi trenches with the sheer volume of Iraqi Prisoners the only thing to slow them down on G+ 1 Iraqi forces launched their first major Counterattack against the US Marines near Alber and oil field but this was thrown back with the help of helicopters and aircraft on the left 18th Corp set up roadblocks on Highway 8 trapping Iraqi forces while seventh Corp was moving towards a key Supply base at Al bashay the stage was now set for a Titanic clash with the Republican guard on G+ 2 British forces entered the fight for the first time hooking right they took on entrenched Iraqi positions from the flank and took a huge number of prisoners however alongside spirited Iraqi resistance British forces also faced damaging incidents of Friendly Fire this was a high-tech war and advances in technology put Coalition soldiers at risk in February 1991 British troops suffered their single biggest casualty in the Gulf War when US aircraft Stu their Warrior vehicles for Iraqi t-55s nine soldiers lost their lives similar incidents occurred throughout the campaign and often owed low visibility from heavy rains darkness and sandstorms by the end of the conflict more British soldiers would have lost their lives from Friendly Fire than enemy forces by this time Iraqi forces were beginning to collapse to cover their withdraw units of the Republican guard dug in to face seventh core and buy them time in the late afternoon the Coalition attacked three divisions AB breast the fighting soon developed into a huge tank battle that raged on into the early hours of the next day with far superior Gunnery and devastating fire support from Apache Attack Helicopters 7eventh core smashed through the Republican guard positions this bmp1 infantry fighting vehicle was captured from Iraqi forces in 1991 whilst initially seen as a revolutionary vehicle during the Gulf War War it proved highly vulnerable to Coalition Vehicles such as the US M1A1 Abrams and the British Challenger tank Iraqi tanks the most advanced being the t-72s lacked effective night vision equipment and were far outrange by Coalition tanks in fact one British Chandra 1 destroyed an Iraqi t-55 at a range of around 3 miles achieving the longest range tank-to-tank kill in military history on G+ 3 the Iraqis attempted more peacemeal counterattacks but American cluster Munitions and A10 warthogs brought these to a quick standstill US Marines captured cuit city international airports as qat units entered the outskirts of their Capital City all the while 18th Corp was pushing up Highway 8 to close the trap with Iraqi defeat all but assured the question was how much of the Republican guard would survive in the wake of the Coalition advances Iraqi troops were seen leaving Kuwait City hundreds of vehicles were effectively trapped in a traffic jam and were vulnerable to Air Attack Coalition forces attacked those retreating Vehicles using laser guided bombs footage of the burnout vehicles that littered the road were shared on national television and this so-called highway of death became one of the most recognizable images of the wall but it also sparked a debate around the decision to attack and whether this represented a disproportionate use of force Coalition leaders were extremely Keen to maintain the moral High ground and Days Later President Bush declared a ceasefire the remnants of surviving Iraqi divisions escaped towards Baghdad with the rest destroyed or captured this result had been achieved in just 100 hours and with staggeringly few Coalition losses just 392 dead in contrast Iraqi battle deaths are estimated between 20 and 35,000 while over 3,000 civilians were killed in Coalition air strikes it was a victory born of superior technology and training Desert Storm was so successful because much of the capability of the Coalition forces had been built up during the Cold War it's also worth remembering that whil Sadam had a huge Army Coalition forces were armed with some of the world's most technologically advanced weapons making Desert Storm one of the most one-sided battles in history Kuwait was now free and the United States had staked its place as the world's sole superpower it would take until November to put out the oil fires set by Iraqi forces Saddam Hussein survived the first Gulf War but under operation Southern watch no fly zones were enforced over parts of Iraq until 2003 and the second Gulf War 4S Operation Desert Storm was extremely short but the consequences of the first Gulf War are still with us today
